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The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1894 no. 59

The bulletin of Atlanta University

NUMBER 59. ATLANTA, GEORGIA. NOVEMBER, 1894. The notable event of the month, and doubtless of the school year, was the presence, as our guests, of the members of the Society for the Advancement of Women, whose gracious visit among us is so pleasantly described in another place. To the students who were thus privileged to meet personally and shake hands with these ladies, it was an event that will grow in importance as it recedes in time. To those of us who are acquainted with the story of the last half century, the visit was full of meaning. In Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Cheney, the grand-children of one " relic of barbarianism " saw representatives of that noble company of men and women who in the early 50's entered so courageously into the anti-slavery cause. In the school, in the class room, and in the reception in the Chapel, these ladies saw the answer to that faith in God and righteousness which bade them enter the lists in defence of a cause at once so right, so weak, and apparently so hopeless, In response to an invitation in our daily paper to the " public to attend an address in the Opera House by a distinguished Irish Member of Parliament, on behalf of Home Rule for Ireland," several of our students secured permission to attend. Admission was allowed by the ushers, and the students found seats in the gallery usually set apart for colored people. As the invitation was to the " public," and as the colored gallery has been recognized heretofore, there seemed no infelicity on the part of the office in granting permission or in the students attending. However, the policeman in attendance, acting presumably under instructions, informed the students and some other colored people present, that colored folk were not allowed that night. The language of dismissal was perhaps courteous enough, so far as courtesy goes in such matters, though sufficiently peremptory to enforce itself, and thus illustrate anew that " all men " and " the public " have varying meanings in varying times and localities. The cutting off of the industrial work, due to the enforced retrenchment, has troubled the alumni as well as the undergraduates. In the special interest of the industrial phase of our work a benefit concert is being arranged by graduates in Atlanta. The time set is" Thanksgiving night.' It was hoped to secure the opera house for the purpose, the more so as it had been secured previously for colored audiences. Such was the personel of the applicant who wanted to secure the building that the permit was obtained, through no false representation. Further thought of the matter led to the question that perhaps the application for a colored audience was not understood and, that all question might be avoided, this point was very carefully restated and the permission withdrawn — and this for reasons given, not that such colored audiences as had had the building had not behaved as well as the average white audiences, but it had raised so many questions and demurrers among the patrons that it could n't again be allowed. In contrast to these is the story of our visiting friends from the North. These representatives of the Society for the Advancement of Women came South to hold meetings in behalf of their cause in the southern cities, especially at Knoxville and Atlanta. The personel of the party se- cured for it hearty co-operation, reception and entertainment among its southern members and their friends. The Society has in view the advancement of women, without defining the term too closely, and their representatives felt no hesitancy after completing their mission to one side of southern womanhood to announce a mission to the other side. It requires courage in any society to take a position which is antagonistic to recognized usages, and especially so after enjoying the hospitality of the society whose customs you are to oppose. So to us, the quiet understanding that our friends, having enjoyed, the hospitality of the white South, and having completed their engagement with them, would now accept entertainment and fill other engagements with the darker South, seems courageous. Courage is so strange a quality as to be unrecognized by the one who exhibits it—being the natural expression of the life. To our mind then, the notable thought in the notable visit of these notable women upon our campus this month, is that our visitors were true to the record they made forty, nay fifty years ago, when it required courage even in New England to espouse the cause of the Negro ; that the same courage exhibited then in the cause of the enslaved was again exhibited in the recognition of the essential oneness of the children and grand-children of the Freedmen in the great family of humanity. VACATION TOUR OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY QUARTET. An unusually good quartet of singers was ready to take the road, a former instructor in the school was willing to go with them, and the University was in special need of funds, so the Trustees rather reluctantly decided to authorize the tour.

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Transcript

NUMBER 59. ATLANTA, GEORGIA. NOVEMBER, 1894. The notable event of the month, and doubtless of the school year, was the presence, as our guests, of the members of the Society for the Advancement of Women, whose gracious visit among us is so pleasantly described in another place. To the students who were thus privileged to meet personally and shake hands with these ladies, it was an event that will grow in importance as it recedes in time. To those of us who are acquainted with the story of the last half century, the visit was full of meaning. In Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Cheney, the grand-children of one " relic of barbarianism " saw representatives of that noble company of men and women who in the early 50's entered so courageously into the anti-slavery cause. In the school, in the class room, and in the reception in the Chapel, these ladies saw the answer to that faith in God and righteousness which bade them enter the lists in defence of a cause at once so right, so weak, and apparently so hopeless, In response to an invitation in our daily paper to the " public to attend an address in the Opera House by a distinguished Irish Member of Parliament, on behalf of Home Rule for Ireland," several of our students secured permission to attend. Admission was allowed by the ushers, and the students found seats in the gallery usually set apart for colored people. As the invitation was to the " public," and as the colored gallery has been recognized heretofore, there seemed no infelicity on the part of the office in granting permission or in the students attending. However, the policeman in attendance, acting presumably under instructions, informed the students and some other colored people present, that colored folk were not allowed that night. The language of dismissal was perhaps courteous enough, so far as courtesy goes in such matters, though sufficiently peremptory to enforce itself, and thus illustrate anew that " all men " and " the public " have varying meanings in varying times and localities. The cutting off of the industrial work, due to the enforced retrenchment, has troubled the alumni as well as the undergraduates. In the special interest of the industrial phase of our work a benefit concert is being arranged by graduates in Atlanta. The time set is" Thanksgiving night.' It was hoped to secure the opera house for the purpose, the more so as it had been secured previously for colored audiences. Such was the personel of the applicant who wanted to secure the building that the permit was obtained, through no false representation. Further thought of the matter led to the question that perhaps the application for a colored audience was not understood and, that all question might be avoided, this point was very carefully restated and the permission withdrawn — and this for reasons given, not that such colored audiences as had had the building had not behaved as well as the average white audiences, but it had raised so many questions and demurrers among the patrons that it could n't again be allowed. In contrast to these is the story of our visiting friends from the North. These representatives of the Society for the Advancement of Women came South to hold meetings in behalf of their cause in the southern cities, especially at Knoxville and Atlanta. The personel of the party se- cured for it hearty co-operation, reception and entertainment among its southern members and their friends. The Society has in view the advancement of women, without defining the term too closely, and their representatives felt no hesitancy after completing their mission to one side of southern womanhood to announce a mission to the other side. It requires courage in any society to take a position which is antagonistic to recognized usages, and especially so after enjoying the hospitality of the society whose customs you are to oppose. So to us, the quiet understanding that our friends, having enjoyed, the hospitality of the white South, and having completed their engagement with them, would now accept entertainment and fill other engagements with the darker South, seems courageous. Courage is so strange a quality as to be unrecognized by the one who exhibits it—being the natural expression of the life. To our mind then, the notable thought in the notable visit of these notable women upon our campus this month, is that our visitors were true to the record they made forty, nay fifty years ago, when it required courage even in New England to espouse the cause of the Negro ; that the same courage exhibited then in the cause of the enslaved was again exhibited in the recognition of the essential oneness of the children and grand-children of the Freedmen in the great family of humanity. VACATION TOUR OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY QUARTET. An unusually good quartet of singers was ready to take the road, a former instructor in the school was willing to go with them, and the University was in special need of funds, so the Trustees rather reluctantly decided to authorize the tour.